Marketplace vs direct outreach: a side-by-side anyone can learn from

Marketplace vs direct outreach: a side-by-side anyone can learn from

One practitioner ran both and others chimed in.

— The headline case: 10 edits via a marketplace at $210 avg vs 10 via cold email at $95 avg — same DR band, same niche. Direct outreach won on cost but took 4x the hours; rankings were comparable after 12 weeks.
— A forum reply confirming similar: marketplace fast and 2x pricier, direct cheaper but a 30% non-response wall.
— Also circulating: an agency that hybridized — marketplace for speed on priority targets, outreach for the long tail.

Editor's note: the hours figure in the headline case is what most pricing debates ignore — direct isn't free, it's traded for time.

Pick of the week: the 10-vs-10 writeup — controlled enough to actually compare.